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At the beginning of 2004 I found, on the Internet, a band I had never heard of, Muse. I downloaded all of their albums to that point including Absolution. I listened to them repeatedly, and looked on Amazon.com to see which albums had been released in the USA. I learned that Absolution was about to be released in the United States after being released several months earlier in the U.K. and Europe. I pre-ordered (bought) the CD, because I thought Muse were creating really good music.
Now five years later Muse have made it in America. No longer are they the obscure treasure I found while randomly downloading stuff. Muse are on their way to being one of the biggest bands the world has ever known. Indeed, I picked a winner. Not because they became popular, but because they are genius musicians. Also, they get it.

Click to read -> Global Superstars Muse Explode in America from Rolling Stone

After 27 days in the top 100 of Amazon’s music bestsellers list “The Resistance” broke the top ten against the pressure of the Beatles remastered collection. Currently at #6 Muse broke the top ten sometime after midnight. In its’ move to #6 Resistance pushed past the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Remastered).

Of course my advice in the previous post was to go for Bruckner full tilt while the Guardian advises baby steps.

Click to read -> The indie kid’s guide to classical music from Guardian.co.uk

To celebrate the release of Muse’s new single here is a short retort I wrote to all the musically narrow minded fans on the Muse forum. I wrote this back in February 2009, but did not publish it until now.

Firstly, a symphony is not a song. A symphony is a piece of music generally written in four movements. The time of a movement varies greatly from under 10 minutes to over 30.

Muse are first and foremost musicians. They are musicians that have been playing rock music. Musicians grow/develop in their art. It is always interesting when fans wish to hold musicians in one place. This of course happened to U2 in the 1990s. If one expects a musician’s style to not change they will, in all likelihood, be disappointed.

I have thought since the Absolution release that Muse have the genius to write a symphony. I do find it interesting that they have thought this one possibility for their next album. Please get off their backs they will release what they desire. For the pure artistry of it all I hope they release a symphony someday. It will be one of the greatest releases in modern musical history.

And as long as I am writing let me lament the lack of musical education around the world (apparently). Some people on this particular topic and similar ones, I gather, have never listened to classical music. Some seem to lack the attention span necessary to do so. This of course is not all of one’s fault. It is a symptom of the modern environment in which many of us live in. Hang out at home and listen to some Bruckner sometime – you’ll be better for it.

That is all